Abstract:
Old-fashioned crystalline silicon panels, which long failed to compete with power from fossil fuels, are falling in cost and rising in efficiency thanks to nanotechnology.

And thin-film solar panels will soon be manufactured on a scale large enough to make them a realistic alternative to fossil fuels, particularly in countries such as Spain and Germany which offer preferential "feed-in" tariffs to encourage power from these sources.

The Emirates may lag behind Germany, Spain and California in terms of implementing solar power, but it is working fast to catch up.